NAUTICAL RUSSIAN FANTASY LINKED WITH UKRAINE AND AUSTRALIAN ARTIST

Going on the title of  this worn book, Scarlet Sails , our scavenging  Shipping Reporter   thought  he  had  found  a rollicking  tale  about   sailing    when  he   discovered  it  and   miscellaneous  others  while  rummaging   through   a   North  Queensland  tip  shop.

On  closer inspection, it was found to  be  a 1969 English  translation of  the complete  l923  work  of  that  name by  Russian Alexander  Grinyevsky , born 1889,  who wrote  under  the  name  Alexander Green , died in Crimea ,.  He penned a number of  stories set in  an  imaginary land known as  Greenlandia.

Scarlet Sails,  extremely popular in Russia ,  was  later made into  a ballet and a  film . Published by  Angus and Robertson  , the  book   dustjacket   and   illustrations  were  done  by  Australian  artist   Annette Macarthur- Onslow,   of  a  prominent  NSW  family . Born 1933, she  had  studied  at  East Sydney Technical College , went on to  freelance  as  a commercial artist , became  involved  in  a marionette  television series. 

 She  wrote several children's books, one , Uhu, about  a fledgling owl she looked after, won the 1970 Book of the Year Award for Children's Books. In 1971 she represented Australia for the first time at the Biennale  d'Illustrations   Bratislavia , awarded a Diploma d'Honneur  for  her exhibition work , which  included  Uhu

In Australia and overseas, she illustrated the texts of many  authors  including  poet  Judith Wright , Hesba  Brinsmead  and  Elyne  Mitchell .

Scarlet Sails  includes a  note on Alexander Green  by American  Thomas P. Whitney , a  former diplomat  and writer on Russian  affairs,  who translated  the  work  of Nobel prize winning  dissident  writer  Aleksandr  Solzhenitsyn  into  English.